The research in the Champness group spans supramolecular chemistry, chemical nanoscience and molecular organization. In particular the group focusses on molecular design and synthetic methods, employing self-assembly to create framework materials on surfaces and in the solid-state and for the creation of interlocked structures in solution.

Metal-organic Frameworks and Hydrogen-bonded Organic Frameworks

Crystal Engineering

Mechanically-interlocked Molecules: Rotaxanes and Catenanes

Surface self-assembly

Neil Champness is the Norman Haworth Professor of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham. He began his academic career at the University of Southampton with a B.Sc. (1989) and PhD (1993) under the supervision of Prof. Bill Levason. Following postdoctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. Gill Reid, he moved to the University of Nottingham in 1995 as a Teaching Fellow in Inorganic Chemistry. He took up an appointment as a Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry (1998), was promoted to Reader in Chemistry (2003) and to the Chair of Chemical Nanoscience (2004). He took up his current position at the University of Birmingham in 2021. 

In recognition of his research he has been awarded the Bob Hay lectureship of the RSC Supramolecular Chemistry Group (2005); the RSC Corday Morgan Medal (2006); the RSC Supramolecular Chemistry Award (2010) and the RSC Surfaces and Interfaces Award (2016). He is a Member of Academia Europaea, a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, the European Academy of Sciences, IUPAC and the Royal Society of Chemistry and was a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Awardee (2011-2016). In 2011 he was named as one of the top 100 most cited chemists of the previous decade and he has been recognized as a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher. He is currently an EPSRC Established Career Fellow (2019-2023).